New/Used 1942 J 45 Legend Questions

[suburude63]

Hello! I am new to this forum! I just purchased a used 1942 J 45 Legend. It has old strings which will be changed today!

Any suggestions of size and brand strings for this beauty? As it sounds not so hot now.

Also this guitar had some pick guard issues/Its why I got it at a affordable price.

Has anyone changed the pick guard on one of these? Any ideas of who makes one nice enough as a replacement??

Any feed back appreciated!! Thanks suburude

[guitarstrummer]

I run Gibson Masterbuilt mediums on mine. Concerning the pickguard problem, I'm guessing it was one of the prototypes? If so, you will have problems changing out the pickguard, as the prototype guards were installed and then lacquered over during the finish process. You should probably take it to a repair tech for opinions/options. If it's not too bad, your best option may just be to leave it alone.

[suburude63]

Someone has allready messed with it from my info on it. The original pick guard started to come off so the orig. owner had a luthier take it off and put a Greven on it. The orig. owner wanted it back to original and got a Tiger from Gibson and reinstalled it. The edges show through now ! Ugly really ! I am not that attached to the Tiger stripe to tell the truth. I have done reasearch on real vintage 42s and most ive seen have a tortis pick guard ?

Any suggestions on a great tortis guard to cover the edges. Grevens are good but thick.

Thanks! suburude

[zeebee]

Theres a guy on UMGF selling blank pieces of "old" celluloid...might be just the ticket.

 

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.yuku.com/topic/67625

 

As for strings, my J-50 seems to like anything in mediums that I've thrown on todate except Newtones. I'm kinda partial to the EXP's P/B's and the always reliable Daddario med also P/B. I'm waiting to try Alchemy, Pearse and Elixirs as I bought sets of each to experiment a wee bit. While Pearse 80/20's were good they lasted only a week and the Martin 4200's not much longer.